Union Avenue Books, Knoxille, Tenn., is expanding, likely next month, next door, adding 750 square feet to the store's current 1,500 square feet of space, the Knoxville News-Sentinel reported.

In the new space, which was previously occupied by Coldstream Market, shelves and tables will be on wheels, allowing the store to hold author events much more easily than now. (Currently the store has space for only 15 chairs for events.) In addition, because of the expansion, Union Avenue Books will increase the children's, fiction and regional sections and perhaps several other sections.

"We would have never even done this two years ago," said Flossie McNabb, who owns the store with her daughter Bunnie Presswood. "It really didn't cross our mind until (Coldstream) moved."

Union Avenue Books opened in 2011 just after McNabb's previous bookstore, Carpe Librum, closed. In contrast to Carpe Librum, which was a destination store, Union Avenue Books is downtown, which has turned out to be a great choice.

"You wouldn't believe the people here--not only that work here but come down here to shop, to eat," McNabb said. "There's tourists that come through and it seems like they all want to find a bookstore."

She added that the store's business has grown every year. "Especially during Christmas and author events, people can't even come in it's so crowded. Sometimes people can't even get in the door."

Quarto Publishing Group, the U.K. publisher with numerous operations in the U.S., including becker&meyer, Burgess Lea Press, Harvard Common Press, Rockport Publishers, Walter Foster Publishing, among others, reported "encouraging" results in the first six months of the year, but has cut an unknown number of jobs and is closing its office in Minneapolis, Minn. as well as shutting down Voyageur Press, the Bookseller reported.

Quarto acquired Voyageur Press in 2007 when it bought Motorbooks International, then with headquarters in St. Paul, Minn. (Motorbooks had bought Voyageur in 2005 and also owned Zenith Press.) According to Quarto, Voyageur Press has focused on books that "illuminate, inform, and instruct on self-sufficiency, country life, American food and drink, popular science, regional travel, and music and popular culture."

Quarto's offices in Beverly, Mass., New York City, Seattle, Wash., and Lake Forest, Calif., remain open.

During the first half of the year, Quarto's U.S. publishing revenue was up 9% while its overall revenue rose 12%, to $56.2 million.

"The reorganization is intended to improve the company's financial position and operational performance," a Quarto spokesperson said. The company is also doing "a thorough review of key areas of expenditure including but not limited to, pre-publication expenditure, occupancy costs, payroll and discretionary expenditure" so that there will be "a right-sizing of the Group; a path to sustainable debt reduction; a focus on our core strengths; and a disciplined business model."

Quarto ownership and management has been on a roller-coaster ride recently. In May, there was a stockholder revolt, much of which had to do with the company's significant amount of debt. Quarto CEO Marcus Leaver resigned. At the same time, Quarto co-founder Laurence Orbach, who had been ousted as a director in 2012, returned to the company as executive chairman--until he left in July. Orbach owns 20% of the company and Chuk Kin Lau of the Lion Rock printing company owns 27%.

Librería Donceles, a traveling Spanish-language bookstore named for a Mexico City street filled with used bookstores, has opened in Anchorage, Alaska, KTVA reported. The pop-up is located in Suite 114 of the city's downtown transit center and carries some 10,000 books. It opened on September 15 and will be in residence until January 6.

The store, which was created by New York artist Pablo Helguero, has already traveled to 12 cities. Librería Donceles operates on a pay-what-you-can model for every book it carries, but customers may purchase only one book per day. All proceeds will "go towards promoting Latin American culture."

Helguero told KTVA: "Alaska has such a strong connection to Native languages. I think we felt this would be a really interesting project to have here, so we can talk about also not just the Spanish language, but the diversity of languages that exist in the region."

Librería Donceles held an opening celebration on Saturday evening that was sponsored by the Anchorage Museum, and on Sunday the store hosted artists Gabriela Galvan and Mayra Cecilia Palafox for a storytelling workshop. More cultural events and workshops are planned for the residency.

James Patterson is donating £50,000 (about $65,725) to school libraries in the U.K. through a new program set up by Scholastic Book Clubs. The Bookseller reported that Scholastic "will make £25,000 available to schools and teachers in the autumn term and another £25,000 in the spring term as part of Patterson's Big Book Giveaway. One hundred schools will receive £250 each per term and Scholastic will top up each donation with a 25% off 'reward' to increase the number of books that schools are able to buy."

Patterson commented: "Libraries are at the heart of every school, and I'm thrilled to be partnering with Scholastic to continue to underscore both the need to sustain them, and the vital role that school libraries, librarians and teachers play in transforming lives and fostering a love for learning. I can't stress enough how important books and reading are to a child's development--better readers make better people and ultimately better citizens."

British journalist and travel writer John Wilcock, who "played a major role in the emergence of the alternative press at the Village Voice, the East Village Other and the Underground Press Syndicate, died September 13, the New York Times reported. He was 91. In the 1960s and early '70s, Wilcock was also the author of many "$5 a day" travel books. A 1973 Times profile described him as "an influential man nobody knows," an "oracle of the nitty-gritty of inexpensive, traditional tourism" and "an apostle and chronicler of the radical underground."

Wilcock met Arthur Frommer in 1960 and soon began working for him, writing guidebooks "on how to live on $5 a day in Mexico, Greece, Japan, India and elsewhere. He later edited books on the occult and published Other Scenes, an underground magazine offering travel tips, poetry and social commentary," the Times noted.

A regular at Andy Warhol's Factory in Manhattan, Wilcock founded Interview magazine with Warhol in 1969 and in 1971 published The Autobiography and Sex Life of Andy Warhol, a collection of interviews with the artist's friends and associates. A revised edition was released in 2010, the same year Wilcock published his autobiography, Manhattan Memories. In 2016, Ethan Persoff and Scott Marshall published John Wilcock: New York Years, 1954-1971, the first volume of a biography in graphic-novel form. A second volume is in the works and is being serialized on Boing Boing.

A group of Portland, Ore., area booksellers joined author Eli Saslow for lunch and lively discussion of his new book, Rising Out of Hatred (Doubleday),the story of how a prominent white supremacist changed his heart and mind. Pictured: (l.-r.) Kathi Kirby, Powell's Books; Molly Beckel, Barnes & Noble; Sally McPherson, Broadway Books; Jenny Cohen, Waucoma Bookstore; Eli Saslow; Karen Emmerling, Beach Books; Madeline Shier, Powell's Books; and Lauren Peugh, Powell's Books.

Bank Square Books, Mystic, Conn., is responding to a recent theft in the store with an inspiring act of generosity.

On Facebook yesterday, Bank Square posted: "On Saturday, our cash drawer was robbed while one of our employees was taking a lunch break. We don't keep a lot of cash on hand, but we still feel violated and upset about this act of theft.

"We love being part of Mystic and feel strongly about being a positive addition to our community. To balance out this act of negativity, we are asking that you come by our store in the next week and pick out any children's book to purchase for a child in need. We will give you 10% off your purchase and donate all the books to shelters, schools and other organizations.

"If you want to purchase a book online, you can add 'For a kid in need' to the order comment and use the coupon code GOODDEED."

Amy Cooper

Congratulations to Amy Cooper, owner of The Barn Owl Books and Gifts, McCall, Idaho, who has won this year's special "Left of Center, Right of the Range" Brad Smith Memorial Scholarship, created "to help a free thinking bookseller from the eastern half of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association member region."

Brad Smith, who died in May of cancer, was co-owner of Paulina Springs Books, Sisters, Ore., and a PNBA board member known for, PNBA said, "his fierce passion for valuable connection in everything he did."

In her application, Cooper wrote: "I've never worked harder, earned less, or felt more connected to my community in my entire career."

The Forbidden Door: A Jane Hawk Novel by Dean Koontz (Bantam).

The Emmy Awards were a little stingy last night about book-related shows, but some book-to-TV adaptations still took home prizes, including Game of Thrones, which CNN described as "back with a vengeance, winning the night's top prize for outstanding drama series." The bookish winners included:

Game of Thrones, based on the novels by George R.R. Martin: Outstanding drama series; Peter Dinklage (supporting actor, drama series)

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, based on Maureen Orth's book Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History: outstanding limited series; Darren Criss (lead actor, limited series or movie); Ryan Murphy (director, limited series, movie or dramatic special) for the episode "The Man Who Would Be Vogue."

Today:
Fresh Air: Linda Kay Klein, author of Pure: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Shamed a Generation of Young Women and How I Broke Free (Touchstone, $26, 9781501124815).

Tomorrow:
Live with Kelly and Ryan: Chrissy Teigen, co-author of Cravings: Hungry for More (Clarkson Potter, $29.99, 9781524759728).

CNBC's Squawk Box: Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Leadership: In Turbulent Times (Simon & Schuster, $30, 9781476795928). She will appear on CNN's the Lead with Jake Tapper and MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews.

Wendy Williams: Suze Orman, author of Women & Money (Revised and Updated) (Spiegel & Grau, $24, 9780812987614).

Daily Show: Eli Saslow, author of Rising Out of Hatred: The Awakening of a Former White Nationalist (Doubleday, $26.95, 9780385542869).

The Land of Steady Habits, based on the novel by Ted Thompson, is now available in theaters and streaming on Netflix. Directed and written by Nicole Holofcener (Enough Said), the film stars Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, Thomas Mann, Connie Britton, Bill Camp and Charlie Tahan.

Holofcener told Entertainment Weekly that the novel attracted her because of its treatment of complex issues of kinship contrasted with an otherwise upbeat setting: "It's like a reminder to call your parents. A reminder to call your children, big time... I think the movie is about middle age and parenting and how hard it is to be a parent when you're a seriously damaged adult. I think it's really emotional and also funny and very human, and you follow the path of this troubled man trying to do things well and he does them very badly and hurts a lot of people in the end. I was drawn to the novel [because] this was so not my world, yet it was people that I could relate to, that and what the story was about really resonated with me."

A longlist of 12 titles has been unveiled for the C$100,000 (about US$76,810) Scotiabank Giller Prize, which recognizes excellence in Canadian fiction. The shortlist will be announced October 1 and a winner named November 19. This year's Scotiabank Giller Prize longlisted titles are: 

Zolitude by Paige Cooper
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
Songs for the Cold of Heart by Eric Dupont, translated by Peter McCambridge
Washington Black by Esi Edugyan
Beirut Hellfire Society by Rawi Hage
Motherhood by Sheila Heti
Our Homesick Songs by Emma Hooper
An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim
Something for Everyone by Lisa Moore
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq
Vi by Kim Thúy, translated by Sheila Fischman
Jonny Appleseed by Joshua Whitehead

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The winners and runnersup of the 2018 Dayton Literary Peace Prizes are:

Fiction winner: Salt Houses by Hala Alyan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), a "heartbreaking debut novel [that] follows three generations of a Palestinian family as they are uprooted by one military clash after another, giving up their home, their land, and their story as they know it and scattering throughout the world. A lyrical examination of displacement, belonging, and family, the book humanizes an age-old conflict, illuminating the experiences of all refugees and challenging readers to confront that most devastating of all truths: you can't go home again."

Fiction runnerup: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Grand Central), which "brings the historical sweep of Dickens and Tolstoy to the saga of four generations of a poor Korean immigrant family who, exiled from a homeland they never knew, fight to control their destinies in 20th-century Japan. As they encounter both catastrophes and great joy, the novel's exceptional protagonists confront enduring questions of faith, family, and identity."

Nonfiction winner: We Were Eight Years in Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates (One World/PRH), a collection of essays. "Revisiting each year of the Obama administration through Coates's own experiences, observations, and intellectual development, the book offers a vital account of eight years that began with great hope of black progress and ended with an election and vicious backlash that fully illuminated the tragedy of the Obama era."

Nonfiction runnerup: Reading with Patrick by Michelle Kuo (Random House), a memoir in which the author, "the child of Taiwanese immigrants, shares the story of her complicated but rewarding mentorship of Patrick Browning, a teenaged student from one of the poorest counties in the U.S., and his remarkable literary and personal awakening."

The bestselling self-published books last week as compiled by IndieReader.com:

1. Mess Me Up by Lani Lynn Vale
2. Flirting With Forever by Kendall Ryan
3. The Ink Master's Silence (Glass and Steele Book 6) by C.J. Archer
4. Timid (Lark Cove Book 2) by Devney Perry
5. To Love by Laura Scott
6. Royal and Reckless by Various
7. London Large Crime Thriller Series: Books 1-3 by Roy Robson and Garry Robson
8. The Blackwells of Crystal Lake Complete Boxed Set by Juliana Stone
9. Dirty Headlines by LJ Shen
10. Her Cherry by Penelope Bloom

[Many thanks to IndieReader.com!]